In the same group as Louis Farrakhan and Saudi Prince Bandar...

Rand Paul, the conservative Tea Party candidate who won Tuesday's Republican Senate primary in Kentucky, is trying to back out of an earlier commitment to appear on NBC's Meet the Press this Sunday, according to the show's host.

NBC's David Gregory, posting on Twitter, writes: "Rand Paul is trying to cancel his appearance on MTP Sun. We are attempting to get him to reconsider."

According to The Hill newspaper, Paul would be only the third guest to cancel an appearance in the 62-year history of the show. The other two were Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan in 1996 and Saudi Prince Bandar in 2003.

The news comes after a tumultuous week for Paul. He won the Kentucky primary in a landslide and a Rasmussen Reports poll this week found him far ahead of Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway, a Democrat, in the general election.

Since then, Paul has been criticized by Democrats for his comments over the 1964 Civil Rights Act and subsequent statements in which he suggested President Obama has taken too tough a stand on oil giant British Petroleum over the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.